PBA Galleries

6 pages, printed, partially typed and hand notations in green, black and red ink. 13¾x8½, original pre-folded paper contract with black ribbon tie (as issued) on top edge.

Purchase, Rights, and Royalties agreement between James M. Cain and Alfred A. Knopf for Cain's first book, Our Government. Signed by both Cain and Knopf, with numerous hand corrections and initials by both parties, the most notable being a later notation by Knopf on the first page that the contract was voided by way of a letter from Knopf in 1933. On the last page, there is a typed notation that reads, “Canceled by Mutual Consent and dated July 1949.” Overall, it would appear that the contract was held in place from the time of the book's publication in 1929 through 1933, at which time it was superceded by a new one. These corrections make the document far more interesting, in that it is not only the first contract, but reveals the evolution of the publisher/author agreement over time. The author's copy of his first book contract, one of probably 3-4 copies that have ever existed, preceded only by Cain's magazine and newspaper appearances, most notably in Mencken's "American Mercury."